Luminous body



June 30, 1953 w. v. E'rzKoRN LUMINOUS BODY l Filed May22, 1950 ,Z lili qif@ L IN VEN TOR. Wa/er 1/. Ez kof/7 A TTOIQNEY Patented June 30, 1953UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcEf LUMINoUs BODY y Walter v. Etzkarn, oakland,Calif.` Application May 22, 1950, sarlalNa. 163,381

l f The present invention relates to luminous bodies, particularlyintended to serve the purposes for which neon tubes or fluorescent tubesare generally employed at the present time and the principal object ofthe invention is to provide a luminous body of the character describedthat may be readily bent to form various shapes, such as letters andother characters in advertising display and other uses.

More particularly, it is proposed to provide, in one form of theinvention, a tube or similar elongated structure made of plastic or anyother suitable llexible and light transmitting material, and to arrangewithin said tubes or structures spaced sources of light disposed in sucha man- 'ner that they do not interfere with the bending or cutting ofthe tube or structure into desired shapes, the sources of light being inthe form vof ampoules or cavities or pockets containing luminous gasadapted to be rendered active for illumination by radio-frequency wavesor similar agents. y

It is proposed to provide these luminous ilexible tubes in such a mannerthat they may be Amarketed in long units adapted for rolling on largespools to be cut into desired lengths bythe user or the retail merchant;

It is further proposed, in the present invention, to incorporate in suchtubes or structures, a certain amount of fluorescent material, which maybe applied in the form of a coating to the 'inside or the outside of thetube or other structure or may be embedded in the material thereof,

4and which will be excited to glow by ultra-violet rays emitted from theluminous gas in the ampoules, cavities or pockets, hereinafterdesignated by the general term of cells carried bythe tube or otherstructure.

Flexible plastics have now been developed which will hold high vacuum.Since the pres- "sure in the luminous tube is in the nature of '7alphabet or other characters.

The body may be used as a source of light also.

s claims. (ol. 315-228) colors, is lire-resistant and shock-proof.

excit the phosphors.

The luminous body of the present invention has the further advantagesthat it is easy to manufacture, quite permanent, very flexible, has arelatively high elilciency, long life (possibly over twenty years) ,"alarge number of available The plastic body is resistant to weatheringand corrosive atmospheres, shatter resistant, vlight weight, easy tohandle, easy to cut and drill, and has excellent light transmissioncharacteristics'. s

Further objects and advantages of my invention'will appear asthefspecilication proceeds, and the novel features of`v my inventionwill be fully dened in the claims attached hereto.

The prefered forms of my invention are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which Figure 1 shows the general idea of the invention inconnection with a flexible luminous tube,

Figures 2 to 8 inclusive, various forms of my -luminous body,

Figures 9 and 10, side and end views of a tube having -gas containingcavities instead of ampoules, and

Figure 11,` a method of forming a luminous -flexible bar in accordancewith my invention, Figure 12, a method of evacuating and filling andsealing off long cavities in a plastic body.

While I have shown only the preferred forms -of my'invention, I Wish tohave it understood that various changes Iand modifications may be madeWithin the scope of the claims attached Iheretolwithout departing fromthe spirit of the ,'invention.

The basic device, see Figure 1, consists of the flexible plastic body I(we shall rst consider the hollow tube) the phosphor coating 2 on theinside of the tube, and the'ultra violet radiating ampoules or hollowbeads 3 within the tube. These ampoules or hollow beads are pumped outand filled to the requiredppressure with luminous .gasessimilar to thecommercial fluorescent neon tubes. These ampoules or hollow beads orlong slender capillaries are made of a material that will transmitsuflicient ultra violet radiation to A radio frequency generator 4 isemployed to energize the ampoules which supply the ultra violetradiation that activates the phosphors, giving off light from the insideof the'flexible plastic tube. Y

The term tube should be construed to mean plastic bar, strip, pipe, andsimilar forms.

The llexible plastic tube or body can take any one of many basiccross-sectional shapes: cir- 'cularyrectangularg' triangular, and manymore complex shapes, even including certain lens-like surfaces. Thesecan be easily formed or extruded. These flexible shapes can be eithersolid or hollow.

The phosphors can be placed on the inside surface of the hollow tubes.The phosphors may be imbedded in the plastics themselves, or thephosphor may be placed between two layers or walls of plastic, or coatedon the outside wall. It is known to anyone in the lamp manufacturers artthat the thicknesses and constituents of a phosphor coating are quitecritical, especially where efficiency is a prime factor. Many of thephosphors now available on the open market are quite stable in air. Inor on these flexible tubes these phosphors are not likely to becomecontaminated with chemicals harmful to their efficiency, such as iron,etc. These phosphors are plentiful and relatively cheap.

The ampoules or hollow glass beads will be made of quartz, quartz glass,or Corex, or other glass, or any other material which will transmit arelatively large amount of ultra violet light or near ultra violetlight. Ampoules or hollow glass beads may be made to emit colored lightfrom the visible portion of the spectrum. This can be accomplished byusing a luminescent gas that willemit a colored light. These gases arequite common in the neon industry. It may be desirable to coat theinside walls of the ampoules or beads so they become small fluorescentlights in themselves. It is seen that the ampoules or beads may be usedin three different ways in conjunction with the plastic tube or strip;namely, as a device to radiate ultra violet light onto a phosphorexternal to the ampoule itself; to give off colored light into theflexible plastic tube; or thirdly to act as a small fluorescent lightsource in itself and thus illuminate the plastic tube.

The ampoules may take many different shapes: a bullet, a tear drop, aspherical or nearly spherical bead, as at 5, or even the form of longslender capillary tubes even down to the small dimensions of the glassfibres in glass wool.

The ampoules may be inserted into a plastic tube, laid in a plastictrough, inserted in little pockets in a plastic body, used externally onthe tube, or imbedded in the solid flexible tube.

The ampoules may be evenly spaced, staggered, over-lapped, concentric oreccentric with the tube, each arrangement giving a different effect, asillustrated in Figures 2 4.

The radio frequency generator may take many different forms. The FederalCommunications Commission has set up several radio frequency bands forthese non-communication uses (i. e. industrial high frequency inductionheating, diathermy, induction cooking, etc). New tentative bands are nowset up with certain allowable ultra high frequency bands even up to 2450megacycles. The Federal Communications Commission has so oriented thesefrequencies that cer tain common harmonics fall into the adjacent bandswhich are used for these non-communication uses. The antenna 6 and theground 1 of the radio frequency generator are shown as disposed alongopposite sides of the tube.

There are a large number of antennae arrangements whereby satisfactoryfield patterns can be made and the gas filled ampoules will glow quitesatisfactorily within these fields. It should be remembered that thehigher the frequency the greater the efliciency of the ampoule, but highfrequency current transmission becomes quite difficult. The optimumworking frequency for the first units will probably be chosen aroundtwentysix point eight megacycles. It must be borne in mind that highstrength field gradients may be created in two ways; rst, by radiatingconsiderable electro-magnetic power (or antennae current) wherein thewaves travel out into the ether; or secondly, where the field is createdbetween two conductors whose physical spacing is a small part of theelectro-magnetic wave length. The first condition mentioned is known asa radiating source, and the'second condition mentioned is known as anon-radiating source, inasmuch as almost all of the power is conductedor transmitted by the two conductors in question, and a negligibleamount is radiated out into the ether. The Federal CommunicationsCommission has certain fixed requirements for non-radiating sourceswhich may be operated on any frequency as long as they do not interferewith communications.

The input power to the oscillator unit for a sign board approximately 48x 48", incorporating the flexible luminous tube, would be in theneighborhood of 200 watts or less. The input power for the working modelnow at hand is approximately 57 volt amperes.

The working model now at hand used 1/2 O. D, Tygon flexible plastictubing, commercial phosv phor in a powdered form rubbed into the insidewalls of the plastic tubing, and quartz ampoules about fs O. D. x 11/4long with a 7 mm. Helium- Argon-Mercury fill. The radio frequency wavegencratoris a commercial type.

Other intended variations to the above descriptions are as follows:

1. The plastic body may have an antennae radiating wire run through itor broken segments of wire moulded into it in order to better carry theradio frequencycurrent to the ampoules, as indicated at 8 in Figure 6.

2. The plastic body may have two conductors running through it in suchmanner that they come very close to the opposite sides of the ampoules,in order to create a maximum field gradient across the ampoule, asindicated in Figure 2. Y

3. The ampoules may actually have short segments of wire butted upagainst the ends of the ampoules. as at 9 in Figure 7.

4. Small electrodes may actually be placed in the ampoules to moreeffectively carry the radio frequency current to the luminous gas withinthe ampoule, as at Ill in Figure 8.

5. A high eld strength gradient may be created by placing a plate Vand ascreen parallel to each other and a short distance apart wherein thespacing between the plate and screen is asmall part of the generatedwave length. Said plate and screen are energized from the radiofrequency oscillator. The flexible luminous tubing containing theampoules may be placed between the plate and the screen. Thisarrangement provides a very high field gradient for the flexibleluminous tube. The screen may 'take the form of very fine wire orvarious forms of current conducting glass, etc.

6. Small or medium sized cavities may well be created directly withinthe plastic tube itself, as at Il in Figures 9 and l0. These may befilled with the correct gas mixture at the proper pressure. This may beaccomplished by assembling component parts of the tube in a controlledatmosphere of the proper gas at the correct pressure.

'7. Anothermanner in which small cavities may be created in -a flexiblestrip `is to sandwich a perforated flexible strip I2 between two solidflexible strips I3 with thefproper flexible cement all in a controlledatmosphere of the desired luminous gas at the desired pressure, as shownin Figure 1l.

8. Cavities or compartments i4 can be sealed off in the plastic tube orbar which will act as ampoules. Various techniques arepossible forevacuating and filling these cavities with the' proper gas mixtures andat the proper pressure, as shown in Figure 12.

9. The luminous gases in the ampoules, beads, and/ or cavities maybeexcited by an electrostatic potential gradient or by a low frequencyelectromagnetic wave instead of the radio waves of L. F. (lowfrequency), H. F. (high frequency), V. H. F. (very high frequency), orby U. H. F. (ultra high frequency). v

In addition to the luminous bodies described on page 1 wherein mentionis made of luminous bodies that may be readily bent to form variousshapes and other flexible and rigid structures mentioned on both pages 1and 2, my invention also takes the following forms:

A block or panel light source which can take the form of an acousticalor insulating block or a decorative panel comprised of a large number ofcapillary tubes held together by a suitable plastic or other type ofbinder or transparent container. These capillary tubes, filled with aluminous gas to the desired pressure, may transmit only visible light,if desired; o-r may generate the required ultra violet light to excitethe phosphors which are either intermingled with the capillaries, ormixed into the binder, or placed in or on the walls of the container.

This assembly of gas filled capillaries, plastic binder, fluorescentmaterial, etc., is all placed within a steep high frequency radio fieldvoltage gradient. As described in other parts of this writing, the highfrequency voltage gradient causes the luminous gas .to glow andy giveoff ultra violet light which Will pass through the Walls of the quartzor Corex glass of the capillaries. The ultra violet radiation excitesthe phosphors with which it comes in contact. The phosphors then giveofi" or radiate the desired light. Other erythematic and bactericidaleffects 'are anticipated at this time.

These blocks or decorative panels supply the long awaited architecturalelement which sup-k plies the heretofore unobtainable; a combination ofa wall surface material, decorative panel, acoustical material, aninsulating material, Kand highly desirable source of illumination. Lowsurface brightness in lighting sources has been a requirement ofarchitects and engineers for many years. This system provides thisdesirable, low brightness source of light.

The recent developments of high frequency radio techniques, plastics,:and phosphors, and fluorescent paints has made these new surface andsolid sources of light possible.

My invention also takes the additional forms:

A new type of painter liquid plastic which performs in the previouslydescribed manner.

The capillaries, which are filled with a luminous gas, and are of thesame general nature as the capillaries heretofore mentioned, are madevery short. These very short and small capillaries (or beads orampoules) are thoroughly mixed-in or unified with a transparent orsemitransparent liquid plastic, lacquer, or suitable paint vehicle. Aproper amount of fluorescent material, or fluorescent dye, orfluorescent pigment is added to the mixture. This plastic or paint maybe brushed, sprayed, rolled, or smeared onto the desired surface.

When the steep high frequency radio eld gradient excites the luminousgases within the small capillaries, the ultra violet light generatedexcites the fluorescent material affecting luminous paint. This luminouspaint is not dependent on solar radiation, inasmuch as it contains itsown source of ultra violet radiation.

Fluorescent paints are already available on the open market atreasonable prices in adequate quantities which contain desirablefluorescent materials for this type of use. These paints require anexciting agent, however, before they can go in general use indoors andat night. My invention supplies this desired excitation and opens acomplete Anew field of use for the existing fluorescent paints.

I claim:

l. An elongated plastic tube of light transmitting material havingseparated and unconnected volumes of luminous gas confined therein andhigh-frequency electrical means for illuminating the gas, the tube beingflexible and bendable throughout the length thereof to form desireddesigns and being of uniform transmittance throughout the lengththereof.

2. An elongated plastic tube of light transmitting material havingseparated and unconnected volumes of luminous gas confined therein andhigh-frequency electrical means for illuminating the gas, the tube beingflexible and bendable throughout the length thereof to form desireddesigns and being of uniform transmittance throughout the length thereofand the conning means for the gas volumes being of uniform transmittancethroughout and unobstructed to permit of shedding of light from eachvolume of gas in all directions.

3. An elongated plastic tube of light transmitting material havingseparated and unconnected volumes of luminous gas confined therein, andhigh-frequency electrical means for illuminating the gas, the tube beingexible and bendable throughout the length thereof to form desireddesigns and being of uniform transmittance throughout the lengththereof, and the tube material being sufciently pliable for cutting atany point along the length thereof by means of a pair of scissors orthelike to provide smaller units of desired lengths, the separationbetween the volumes of gas allowing any one of said volumes to be cutwithout affecting the other volumes.

4. An elongated plastic tube of light transmitting material havingseparated and unconnected volumes of luminous gas confined therein, andhigh-frequency electrical means for illuminating the gas, the tube beingflexible and bendable thoughout the length thereof to form desireddesigns and being of uniform transmittance throughout the lengththereof, and the tube having two thin flexible wires mounted therein onopposite sides of the volumes of gas to serve as antennae for thehigh-frequency means.

5. A translucent plastic body having a large number of small separatedand unconnected volumes of luminous gas confined therein, andhighfrequency electrical means for illuminating the gas, said `bodybeing sufficiently plastic to allow for cutting and sawing into desiredshapes and the volumes of gas being so disconnected that only thevolumes cut through are affected by the cutting.

6. A luminous body having separated and un` connected volumes ofluminous gas confined therein in `spaced relation, the spaced relationbeing such that the emission from the separated volumes overlaps, one toanother, and creates a substantially uniform intensity in closeproximity to `the separated and unconnected volumes, and having meansinside the body and external to the volumes for radiating high-frequencyWaves to render the volumes luminous, said radiating means beingarranged in such a manner as to result in non-interference with theoverlapping emission of `the spaced volumes.

7. An elongated plastic tube of light transmit" ting material havingseparated and unconnected volumes of luminous gas conned therein adaptedfor illuminating by high-frequenc3f means, the tube being iiexible andbendable throughout the length thereof to form desired designs and beingof uniform transmittance throughout the length thereof.

8 8. An elongated plastic tube of light transmitting material havingseparated and unconnected volumes of luminous gas confined thereinadapted for illuminating by high-frequency means, thl tube being exibleand bendable throughout the length thereof to form desired designs andbeing of uniform transmittance throughout the length thereof, and thetube having two thin 'exible Wires mounted therein on opposite sides ofthe volumes of gas to serve as antennae for the highfrequency means.

WALTER V. ETZKORN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,550,197 Berry Aug. 18, 1925 1,839,479 Hartman Jan. 5, 19322,064,354 Prouty Dec. 15, 1936 2,117,544 Coustal May 17, 1938 2,216,220Baker Oct. l, 1.9/10 2,525,624 Stahl Oct. 10, 1950

